The seeress speaks her prophecy in this illustration to a 19th-century Swedish translation of the Poetic Edda.
A vǫlva or völva (Old Norse and Icelandic, respectively; plural forms vǫlur and völvur), sometimes anglicized vala; also spákona or spækona) is a female shaman and seer in Norse religion and a recurring motif in Norse mythology.
Names and etymology[]
The vǫlur were referred to by many names. Old Norse vǫlva means "wand carrier" or "carrier of a magic staff", and it continues Proto-Germanic *walwōn, which is derived from a word for "wand" (Old Norse vǫlr). Vala, on the other hand, is a literary form based on vǫlva.
Another name for the vǫlva is fjǫlkunnig (plenty of knowing) indicating she knew seiðr, spá and galdr. A practitioner of seiðr is known as a seiðkona "seiðr-woman" or a seiðmaðr "seiðr-man".
A spákona or spækona "spá-woman" (with an Old English cognate, spæwīfe) is a specialised vǫlva; a "seer, one who sees", from the Old Norse word spá or spæ referring to prophesying and which is cognate with the present English word "spy", continuing Proto-Germanic *spah- and the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)peḱ (to see, to observe) and consequently related to Latin specio ("I see") and Sanskrit spaśyati and paśyati ("to see").
Overview[]
Vǫlur practiced seiðr, spá and galdr, practices which encompassed shamanism, sorcery, prophecy and other forms of indigenous magic associated with women. Seiðr in particular had connotations of ergi (unmanliness), a serious offense in Norse society.
Historical and mythological depictions of vǫlur show that they were held in high esteem and believed to possess such powers that even the father of the gods, Odin himself, consulted a vǫlva to learn what the future had in store for the gods. Such an account is preserved in the Völuspá, which roughly translates to "Prophecy of the Vǫlva". In addition to the unnamed seeress (possibly identical with Heiðr) in the Vǫluspá, other examples of vǫlur in Norse literature include Gróa in Svipdagsmál, Þórbjǫrgr in the Saga of Erik the Red and Huld in Ynglinga saga.
The vǫlur were not considered to be harmless. The goddess who was most skilled in magic was Freyja, and she was not only a goddess of love, but also a warlike divinity who caused screams of anguish, blood and death, and what Freyja performed in Asgard, the world of the gods, the vǫlur tried to perform in Midgard, the world of men. The weapon of the vǫlva was not the spear, the axe or the sword, but instead they were held to influence battles with different means, and one of them was the wand, (see the section wands and weaving, below).
Early accounts[]
The earliest descriptions of such women appear in Roman accounts about the Cimbri, whose priestesses were aged women dressed in white. They sacrificed the prisoners of war and sprinkled their blood in order to prophesy coming events (see blót).
In his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (1, 50) Julius Caesar writes in the course of clashes with Germanic tribesmen under Ariovistus (58 BCE):
When Caesar inquired of his prisoners, wherefore Ariovistus did not come to an engagement, he discovered this to be the reason – that among the Germans it was the custom for their matrons to pronounce from lots and divination whether it were expedient that the battle should be engaged in or not; that they had said, "that it was not the will of heaven that the Germans should conquer, if they engaged in battle before the new moon.
Tacitus also writes about female prophets among the Germanic peoples in his Histories 4, 61 - notably a certain Veleda: "by ancient usage the Germans attributed to many of their women prophetic powers and, as the superstition grew in strength, even actual divinity."
Jordanes relates in his Getica (XXIV:121) of Gothic Aliorumnas who were driven into exile by King Filimer when the Goths had settled in Oium (Ukraine). The name is probably a corruption of a Gothic Halju-runnos, meaning "hell-runners" or "runners to the realm of the dead". These vǫlur were condemned to seek refuge far away and, according to this account, engendered the Huns.
The Lombard historian Paul the Deacon, who died in Southern Italy in the 790s, was proud of his origins and wrote on how his people once had departed from southern Scandinavia. He tells of a conflict between the early Lombards and the Vandals. The latter turned to Odin (Godan), while Gambara, the mother of the two Lombard chieftains Ibor and Aio, turned to Odin's spouse Frea (Freyja/Frigg). Frea helped Gambara play a trick on Odin and thanks to the vǫlva Gambara's good relations with the goddess, her people won the battle.
A detailed eyewitness account of a human sacrifice by what may have been a vǫlva was given by Ahmad ibn Fadlan as part of his account of a diplomatic mission to Volga Bulgaria in 921. In his description of the funeral of a Scandinavian chieftain, a slave girl volunteers to die with her master. After ten days of festivities, she is stabbed to death by an old woman (a sort of priestess who is referred to as "Angel of Death") and burnt together with the deceased in his boat (see Oseberg Ship).
Viking society[]
In Norse society, a vǫlva was an elderly woman who had released herself from the strong family bonds that normally surrounded women in Norse clans. She travelled the land, usually followed by a retinue of young people, and she was summoned in times of crisis. She had immense authority and she charged well for her services.
In addition, many aristocratic Viking women wanted to serve Freyja and represent her in Midgard. They married Viking warlords who had Odin as a role model, and they settled in great halls that were earthly representations of Valhalla. In these halls there were magnificent feasts with ritualized meals, and the visiting chieftains can be likened with the einherjar, the fallen warriors who fought bravely and were served drinks by Valkyries. However, the duties of the mistresses were not limited to serving mead to visiting guests, but they were also expected to take part in warfare by manipulating weaving tools magically when their spouses were out in battle. Scholars no longer believe that these women waited passively at home, and there is evidence for their magic activities both in archaeological finds and in Old Norse sources, such as the Darraðarljóð.
It is difficult to draw a line between the aristocratic lady and the wandering vǫlva, but Old Norse sources present the vǫlva as more professional and she went from estate to estate selling her spiritual services. The vǫlva had greater authority than the aristocratic lady, but both were ultimately dependent on the benevolence of the warlord that they served. When they had been attached to a warlord, their authority depended on their personal competence and credibility.
Saga sources[]
A depiction of a vǫlva on a Faroese stamp by Anker Eli Petersen (2003).
In Flateyjarbók, toward the end of Norna-Gests þáttr, Norna-Gest states that "spákonur traveled around the country-side and fore-told the fates of men."
In Landnámabók, a Volva named Þuríðr Sundafyllir gained the epithet of "filler of inlets" during a famine in Iceland, when she used her magic powers to fill the fjords with fish.
The Saga of Eric the Red relates that the settlers in Greenland c. 1000 were suffering a time of starvation. In order to prepare for the future, the vǫlva Þórbjǫrgr lítilvǫlva ("the little vǫlva") was summoned. Before her arrival the whole household was thoroughly cleaned and prepared. The high seat, which was otherwise reserved for the master and his wife, was furnished with down pillows.
The vǫlva appeared in the evening, dressed in a foot-length blue or black cloak decked with gems to the hem. In her hand she wielded a wand, the symbolic distaff (seiðstafr), which was adorned with brass and decked with gems on the knob. In the saga of Örvar-Oddr, the seiðkona also wears a blue or black cloak and carries a distaff (a wand which allegedly has the power of causing forgetfulness in one who is tapped three times on the cheek by it). The colour of the cloak may be less significant than the fact that it was intended to signify the otherness of the seiðkona.
The Saga of Eric the Red further relates that around her neck she wore a necklace of glass pearls, and on her head she wore a headpiece of black lamb trimmed with white cat skin. Around her waist she wore a belt of amadou from which hung a large pouch, where she hid the tools that she used during the seiðr. On her feet she wore shoes of calfskin and the shoelaces had brass knobs in the ends, and on her hands she wore gloves of cat skin, which were white and fluffy inside.
As the vǫlva entered the room, she was hailed with reverence by the household, and then she was led to the high seat, where she was provided with dishes prepared only for her. She had a porridge made of goat milk and a dish made of hearts from all the kinds of animals at the homestead. She ate the dishes with a brass spoon and a knife whose point was broken off.
The vǫlva was to sleep at the farm during the night and the next day was reserved for her dance. In order to dance the seiðr, she needed special tools. First, she positioned herself on a special elevated platform and a group of young women sat down around her. The girls sang special songs intended to summon the powers that the vǫlva wished to communicate with. The session was a success because the vǫlva was permitted to see far into the future and the famine was averted.
In the prologue of the Prose Edda, related by a vǫlva, the origin of Thor's wife Sif is detailed, where she is said to be a spákona. Snorri contextually correlates Sif with the oracular seeress Sibyl on this basis.
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